Together, these negative aspects of the Church's involvement in political affairs in DR Congo have made its impact negligible. Every part of the Church shares responsibility for the well-being of the people.
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
INTRODUCTION
The theology of Walter Brueggemann is interpreted in the present study as a resource for promoting the prophetic voice that speaks about the deterioration of socio-political realities in the DR Congo. The research aims to empower, through theological reflection, the ECC (Eglise du Christ au Congo, i.e. the Church of Christ in the Congo) as the umbrella body of the Protestant Church in the DR Congo, so that it fulfills its true prophetic role and facing the challenges of political responsibility.
MOTIVATION AND BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH
This is underlined by the limited interest of the church in DR Congo in human rights and socio-political issues. The challenge facing the Protestant Church in DR Congo is to embrace Christian life-giving principles.
LITERATURE REVIEW
- Socio political context in Africa
- Socio-political context in the DR Congo
- The Church and politics in the DR Congo
- The relevance of Kairos as a prophetic witness in DR Congo
In the context of the DR Congo, the voice of the Protestant Church was somehow not heard much. The theme of Kairos was raised in the context of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The main question this research must answer is: In what ways can the Congolese Church (ECC) fulfill its responsibility in a more prophetic way within the framework of Cairo, amidst the political turbulence in DR Congo. Furthermore, what might a Kairos and prophetic responsibility of the ECC in DR Congo consist of while the nation is embroiled in political crises.
SUB-QUESTIONS
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This theology seems to be welcome in the African context as the oppressive situation of the black continent continues. The church must distinguish itself in a discipline to avoid being co-opted into the discipline of the empire.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
Brueggemann (2001c:1) in his book “The Prophetic Imagination” presents the church with new insights into the role of the prophet today. The prophetic mission of the church in relation to its political responsibility is interpreted in the light of this perspective.
VALIDITY, RELIABILITY AND RIGOUR OF THE STUDY
The third method refers to the use of a theological perspective that is determined in the context of the DR Congo.
ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS
The chapter presents a theological reflection on the prophetic role of the church as a result of its political responsibility. The chapter describes the research in the context of DR Congo in the period from 1990 to 2016.
CHAPTER TWO
CHURCH AND POLITICS IN DIALOGUE: A VIEW OF A PROPHETIC PARADIGM
THE AFRICAN POLITICAL CONTEXT
In Salih's view, "the wave of democratization to Africa in the early 1990s represented the most significant political change on the continent since the period of independence three decades before" (Salih, 2003:169). Frantz Fanon (1977:50) explains in his book 'The wetched of the earth' that the African problem is rooted in the fact that "there had been no effective decolonization because the colonial structure had not been destroyed".
CHURCH AND POLITICS
- Defining the Church
- Defining politics
- Politics as a vocation
- History of the relation church and state
- Pre-Reformation
- A secularised society
- Jesus and his political concern
- Some reasons offered in church for avoiding politics
- Render to Caesar his and to God His
- Our kingdom is not from this world
- The authority has been established by God (Romans 13.1-4)
- To submit to the political authority (Romans 13.5-7; 1 Peter 2.13-14)
- Church and politics in the early African independence
The state must listen to the preaching of the Gospel by the Church. However, the significance of Caesar's presence in the context of the above texts remains to be determined.
PROPHETIC THEOLOGY AND PROPHETIC RESPONSIBILITY
At least since the Constantine settlement, this has been the dominant approach to the church. In their belief, according to Walshe, “the universal recognition of Christ as common Lord and King would break down the social, spiritual and intellectual barriers between the races.” It was even referred to as the Church in Arms, the Voice of the People, and the Church of God.
The unity of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), Bible study groups, the World Council of Churches (WCC), the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), the Africa Alliance of Reformed Churches (AARC) and the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) for the sake of justice made the movement effective and its commitment determined (Katts, 2015:197).
CHAPTER THREE
THE DR CONGO AND ITS SOCIO-POLITICAL ISSUES FROM 1990-2016
A GENERAL CONSIDERATION OF THE COUNTRY
- Background and natural resources
He suppressed political opposition and distributed the mineral wealth of the country to whoever he wanted (Witness, 2004:8). For another mineral, coltan, it is estimated that 80% of the world's known sources in Africa are located in the DR Congo (Witness, 2004:19). Coal is also on the list of the most important natural resources of the DR Congo, while iron and manganese are already mined.
In addition, the DR Congo has 154 million ha of forest which amounts to half of the African forest.
DIFFICULT BIRTH 0F A NATION AND THE PROBLEMATIC INTRODUCTION OF A MULTY-PARTY SYSTEM A MULTY-PARTY SYSTEM
In the face of chaos and division that threatened to explode the foundations of the state. In the new Zaire political landscape, what will be the new role of the leader. In the context of this research, several aspects of Mobutu's speech can be highlighted.
Civil society felt strengthened by the church's action and inspired by the power of the organized churches.
THE DR CONGO AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL
- Social policy of the DR Congo
- Educational system
- The economic system
- Poverty factors in DR Congo
- Justice system and national forces .1 The justice system.1 The justice system
- National forces
- Human rights abuses in DR Congo
- Freedom of expression
This means that one of the entities that is destroying the DR Congo is its education system. It is important for the employment situation in the DR Congo that 71.5 percent of the working population is employed in agriculture. Check out some of DR Congo's domestic production results below. Table 8: Examples of annual production.
The justice system in DR Congo also suffers from a lack of courts in large parts of the country.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE PROTESTANT CHURCH IN THE DR CONGO AND SOCIO-POLITICAL ISSUES
INTRODUCTION
THE BEGINNING OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH IN THE DR CONGO
It may be true that the creation of the Protestant Church organization can be seen as, in a sense, "made by Mobutu". Mobutu's leadership wanted the church to embrace the thinking of the MPR ("Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution", the only political party at the time). In translation: If we refer to the evolution of the Catholic Church since colonization, we understand the privileged situation in which it found itself.
In the words of the president-founder of the MPR: as soon as a Zairian is born, he automatically belongs to the MPR.
ORGANIZATION CHART OF THE ECC
8 78. ECC/Confédération communautaire des Frères Évangéliques du Congo (COFEC) Bandundu 9 93. ECC/Confédération communautaire des Frères.
MISSION OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH IN THE DR CONGO
- Evangelical mission
- Educative mission
- Diaconal mission
It was motivated by the desire to detach from the policy of the Belgian colony and it was taken over from the EIC ('Etat Independent du Congo', Independent State of the Congo). The Conseil Protestant Du Congo insisted on the prophetic role of the church in public affairs (Bibi-Bikan. The current constitution of the Protestant Church in its chapter 2, article 4, presents the threefold mission of the church, the three parts of which are discussed in the next section (ECC, 2014a).
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
THE PROTESTANT CHURCH ON THE POLITICAL SCENE FROM 1990- 2016 2016
The recent statements by ECZ (Church of Christ in Zaire) were indeed surprising (Kabongo-Mbaya, 1994:72). In the context of social policy considerations, we emphasize the following position from the synod. Such a confusing comment must have emphasized the church's ambiguous positioning in socio-political issues.
By the end of the day, the church had not yet announced an authentic position.
THE PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC CHURCHES AND THEIR POLITICAL DECLARATIONS DECLARATIONS
The Church denounces the corruption of the elections carried out by the National Electoral Commission, as well as the state that ensures its power through deception, lies, coercion, militarization and the denial of freedom of expression to the people (CENCO). The Church denounces the balkanization plan, the conquest of Goma and every act of greed committed by political actors without exception. The development of a society that evolves » (Interview of the National President of the ECC op.
The church is committed to the non-amendment of the constitution which could jeopardize the quest for peace and national unity.
IMPACTS OF, AND GAPS IN, PROTESTANT INVOLVEMENT IN THE NATION’S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL WELLBEING NATION’S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL WELLBEING
- Has Protestant socio-political involvement made any impact in the DR Congo? DR Congo?
- Gaps in the Protestant Church’s dealings with its political responsibility responsibility
One reason why the Protestant Church's socio-political involvement in the DR Congo was doomed to weakness is that it took the form of an attachment to the President of the church. Another gap in the church's involvement in socio-political concerns is presented by the fact that most declarations of the church are not heard by the people. One problem in this political involvement remains the lack of clear separation of the church leader's personal position from the church's view of specific socio-political issues.
The risk to the integrity of the church that the mission of socio-political involvement of the church poses is the risk of striving for political positions.
CHAPTER FIVE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Research approach
- Data gathering
- Primary data
- Secondary data
- Sampling size technique
- Questionnaire
- Ethical clearance
- Distributing the questionnaire
- Data coding
- Data analysis
- Variable scale of measurement
- Tests used in the study
- Binomial test
- Independent t-test
- Descriptive statistics with means and standard deviations
- Factor analysis
- Thematic analysis applied in qualitative analysis
- Validity and reliability of the measurement instruments
- Ethical consideration
- Limitations of the study
- Demographics
- Gender Figure 6: Gender
The method was used in this study to quantify the involvement of church leaders of the Protestant Church in DR Congo in socio-political issues. In the last part, the feelings of the participants when they answer the questionnaire are evaluated. Questions should lead to the same result if asked and researched under the same circumstances (Gomm, 2008:13).
The purpose of this study is to explore the role of the Protestant Church in DR Congo in relation to socio-political inclusion.
Gender
The present section examines how components such as age, number of years in ministry, studies, community and province size may influence Protestant church leaders when making important decisions about a church's engagement in socio-political issues. The present study shows that the gender issue still needs attention in the leadership of the church in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Of those who participated in the simple random sampling, one percent were female and 99 percent were male.
In terms of theological studies, data indicate that 57 percent of the church leaders involved in the research have an honors degree while 18 percent are undergraduates, 14 percent are postgraduates, Masters and PhDs, and 6 percent have Bible school.
Studies
Regarding their positions in the ECC, 84.3 church leaders included in the study are members of the ECC Executive Committee, 6 percent are vice presidents, and 13.3 percent are provincial presidents of the ECC, while only 1.2 percent the positions are not specified. This means that most respondents hold influential positions and are decision makers in the Protestant Church of Congo.
Position in the communities and years of occupation Figure 11: Position in the communities and years of occupation
The study shows that 55.4 communities reach at least half the number of provinces in the country.
Findings on church and political issues in the DR Congo
- Objective one: The relevance of a prophetic voice in the context of political turbulence in the DR Congo
- Objective two: To consider the theological foundation of a political responsibility in the prophetic voice
The more experienced church leaders are, the more they welcome the concept of the Protestant church having a role in socio-political affairs in the DRC. It is important that church leaders firmly agree that engagement in socio-economic and political issues in the country is also the mission of the Church. Chapter seven discusses the prophetic voice of the Church in more detail and in the context of the Kairos tradition.
Working on social transformation means immersing yourself in the integral mission of the Church.
